Things have been changing in Long Island Sound, and they've been changing for awhile.

When I first moved to Connecticut, northern gannets were rare visitors off our shoreline. Razorbills and common murres had not yet been confirmed as occurring in state waters, and Wilson's storm-petrels were hardly a blip on any state birder's radar screen.

I point this out after having seen several gannets off Rocky Neck State Park in East Lyme on Saturday, after watching daily reports of razorbills this week from one end of the coast to the other and after being fortunate to help document the state's first common murre two Januarys ago at Hammonasset Beach State Park.

What's going on?

Wilson's storm-petrels have been regular summer visitors for more than a decade, and last winter produced the biggest haul of alcids (razorbills, common murres and thick-billed murres) ever recorded in state waters. Northern gannets are regular migrants through the Sound, passing through by the hundreds when conditions are right.

Improved water conditions have to be part of the answer. With the exception of the storm-petrels, all of these birds are almost exclusively fish-eaters, and it seems logical that the fish needed to attract all of these species would increase only with improved water conditions.

I'm sure it's not that simple. Ocean currents and conditions outside the Sound may also be part of the equation, and things still can vary from year to year.

This past summer, for instance, storm-petrels were almost absent. They're kind of a wild card, because unlike the other species under consideration, which dive for fish in the colder months, Wilson's storm-petrels pick smaller prey from the surface during summer.

There are probably different sets of variables at work to entice each of these birds of the open ocean into the confines of Long Island Sound. Whatever the cause, it's heartening to be able see these dynamic creatures while standing on the Connecticut coast.

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